In 1864, after her father and brother are sold to another owner, nine-year-old Addy Walker and her mother escape from their cruel life as slaves in North Carolina to freedom in Philadelphia.
After their escape from North Carolina to Philadelphia in the summer of 1864, Addy and her mother begin their new life as free people as her mother gets a paying job and Addy goes to school and learns a lesson in true friendship.
In the spring of 1865, Addy finds inspiration from a new friend and chooses a birthday for herself as she and her parents try to shape a new life of freedom in Philadelphia despite the racial prejudice they encounter throughout the city.
Addy and Harriet feud over everything, including fund-raising plans to help the families of freed slaves, but tragedy finally forces them to stop fighting and work together.
With the end of the Civil War in 1865, Addy desperately hopes that her family will be reunited in freedom in Philadelphia, but the future may hold both happiness and heartache.
